Altruism is actually a fantastic survival strategy

[marmar]

Altruism is actually a fantastic survival strategy
Primate and neuroscience studies tell us a lot about how evolution rewards kindness and cooperation

By Nicole Karlis
Senior Writer
Published March 16, 2025 9:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) On a tiny island called Cayo Santiago off the coast of Puerto Rico exists a colony of about 1,800 rhesus macaques. Each weighing about 20 pounds and known for their sand-colored fluffy tails, the monkeys that inhabit this island today are descendants of those brought over by primatologist Clarence Carpenter in the late 1930s. Since then, they have helped primatologists, evolutionary biologists, and scientists of all kinds better understand primate behavior in a unique natural laboratory setting.

....(snip)....

On September 20, 2017, the hurricane hit at a ferocious speed, pummeling the island with 170-mile-per-hour winds and torrential rains. Platt and his colleagues waited several nail-biting days to hear about the assessed damage and potential mortalities of the monkeys. Upon their colleagues’ surveying the scene by helicopter, a heroic effort at the time, they learned that two-thirds of the island’s green vegetation had been wiped away. The freshwater cisterns that the monkeys relied on as a water source were destroyed. Through a collective effort, researchers were able to get back up and running fairly quickly, which positioned them to be in a unique opportunity: to see how the rhesus macaques would respond in the wake of a natural disaster. Specifically, the researchers were curious to see if the monkeys’ social ties had shifted and if their behavior would turn more tolerant or aggressive.

....(snip)....

In this technique, an observer looks up every 30 seconds to record the interactions of every monkey around. After adjusting for potential biases, like louder monkeys trying to grab the attention of the researchers, an analysis of their data showed that the monkeys’ behavior had indeed changed after the hurricane. But instead of for the worse, it was for the better.

For instance, the monkeys appeared to be more tolerant of each other compared to the previous times. While the researchers expected the monkeys to rely on those they already had invested relationships with to cope with the ecological devastation, they found that the monkeys appeared to actually seek out new relationships and expand their social networks. A close relationship still had a lot to provide, but it was almost as if the monkeys experienced a realization that a social network where everyone is friendly enough is better for their overall survival than a network with just a few close friends. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/03/16/altruism-is-actually-a-fantastic-survival-strategy/

[GreenWave]

1. And all hail the Rh factor in our blood!

https://discoverwildscience.com/the-rhesus-monkey-and-the-discovery-of-the-rh-blood-factor-1-269379/

[slightlv]

2. As an 0- blood type,

I support you! (of course, a couple of decades back, we with negative RH factors were being told we might be "Starseed" from the stars.)